Help using the Tri-Angle Sharpmaker?

A

AlecWire

Joined
Nov 17, 2001
Messages
372
Heya, folks. Newbie poster to this forum.

I'm a relatively new convert to the ways of the "knife person" and, feeling that I should have a decent sharpener that was easy to use, I went ahead and picked up a Tri-Angle Sharpmaker.

It's easy to use but for one thing. I can't get the hang of sharpening tanto points! At this moment I've got a Cold Steel Recon 1 at home (wouldn't want to test this on a decent knife) with the belly as sharp as a razor but the tanto edge sorta-mirrored, sorta not on one edge and at a completely different angle on the other edge!

Any help would be appreciated. I didn't grow up around decent knives, but since I've lately developed an appreciation for them, I'd like to keep them in good shape.
 
Originally posted by AlecWire
At this moment I've got a Cold Steel Recon 1 at home (wouldn't want to test this on a decent knife)
Click to expand...

LOL!

I like you already Alec! Welcome to our madness.

Yup, some tanto knives are hard to do with the 204. I fought for hours with a chisel ground Emerson trying to get the front edge as sharp as the rest of the blade. Like you mentioned, it's quite difficult to hold the tip of the blade so that it contacts the stones enough to do any sort of sharpening. The angles of the grinds make it pretty frustrating.

What I ended up doing was flipping the Sharpmaker over and then I put the stones side by side flat in the base. Then, just like Sal demos in the video, I "felt" for the grind like I was sharpening a chisel and did it that way. It took some pratice, and I put some unwanted scratches in my knife figuring it out, but I got it pretty sharp after a couple of tries- although still not like the rest of the blade. Of course, the geometry of the tip has some effect on the ultimate level of sharpness you can attain. That's especially important with tanto tips, as there's the chisel grind, the appleseed or "hamaguri", or just double grind. The wider the angle at the tip, the lower the level of "ultimate sharpness".

Maybe that will help you out, but I'm sure with a bit of practice, you'll get it.

My solution since that incident with the Emerson?

I don't buy tantos. :D


Firebat
 
That's the answer I was looking for.

I've been meaning to check out Emerson's Commander, and it was a toss-up between that and the CQC7B. Guess I know what I'm buying.

-Alec
 
Hi Alec. Welcome to the Spyderco forum.

"Tantos" are difficult because the "armor piercing tip" has to be thicker to be "armor piercing". Thicker means difficult to get thin cutting edges. If you thin it out like the rest of the blade, you will lose the "armor piercing" capability of the tip. It's kind of a "trade off" with "Tantos".

sal
 
And it's an honor to make your aqquaintance. I've been very pleased with every Spyderco knife I've owned. You make an excellent product.

-Alec Wire
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top